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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (92900)	12/30/2004 7:16:11 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793731

[KLP Note: With perhaps 5 MILLION people without food and water, many of the ships can and will have to make drinking water.] Water is an issue in nearly every large human tragedy. We can all be prepared to provide for ourselves. Here are some excerpts from Chapter 8 of my book. "We all know water is essential to survival. Most Americans expect to have a constant and safe municipal water supply. Public systems use storage tanks and gravity to deliver water to our homes. Those who live in the country and have wells are more used to occasional breakdowns. The one constant that both of these systems need to operate is electricity. Without electricity, well pumps won’t work. Without electricity, municipal water storage tanks cannot be refilled and will soon run dry. During power outages water will continue to flow until the tank is empty. That is why our toilets and faucets continue to work. Once that big storage tank is empty, the real problem begins. Unless we are in a fallout zone or threatened by fire or flood, our home will likely be our first line of defense. When any disaster is upon us, we should immediately take steps to get a water supply. We keep empty water bottles, a couple of buckets, and a seven-gallon container clean and ready for filling at all times. When a power failure occurs, we fill bathtubs, sinks, pots and other containers with water for household use. Pools and hot tubs make excellent water storage receptacles. Those who own them should keep plenty of chemicals on hand to maintain the recommended chlorine levels. Here are some other water tips: At the first sign of an emergency, take advantage of the water supply to do all of your laundry, dishes, and anything else you want clean. Since sewage is a gravity system, toilets and drains will continue to flow for a while. Toilets can be used by manually filling the tank before flushing. Use your dirty cleaning water for this purpose. Normal septic systems will not be affected by a power outage. Any system using a sewage pump will be affected. Know your local streams, lakes and ponds. Learn which are the cleanest. We have a clear, spring-fed, year-round stream 50 feet from our house. I have selected an area at an easily accessible location to dig out, so I can readily dip water using a pail. If possible, avoid using water that is badly discolored, shows signs of oil or other chemicals on the surface, drains from road surfaces, or has any distinct odor. Sailors use Joy™ liquid detergent for bathing in ocean water. It rinses well and does not leave that sticky feeling. Do not bathe or relieve yourself in streams and lakes. Remove the water you need and bathe well away from shore. Your neighbors downstream will be using the same water source. Do not assume any clean clear water is safe to drink unless you have personal knowledge of the source. If possible, before purifying dirty water, run it through a coffee-filter or paper towel to remove large particles. We keep a bottle of 45 iodine water purification tablets in each car for emergency use. The taste is awful but the water should be safe. You can improve the taste by adding some kool-aid to the container as you fill it. The tablets can be purchased at army/navy or sporting and camping stores. Bleach is an excellent water purification substance. You want common household bleach with no soap or other additives (Read the label.). It should be 5.25-6% sodium hypochlorite. Some of the new Clorox bleach also contains sodium hydroxide. Clorox says it does not pose a health risk. In an emergency, if no alternative were available, I would use it. The safest bleach method I learned is to bring the water to a full boil for one minute. Let it cool for a half an hour, then add 16 drops of bleach per gallon and stir or shake well. Let stand 30 minutes and smell it. If you smell chlorine, use it. If you do not smell chlorine add another 16 drops of bleach. Wait another thirty minutes and smell it again. If you now smell chlorine, use it. If not, throw that water out and find another source. I believe that when boiling is not possible, increasing the standing time to two hours will improve the quality of the water. Bleach diminishes 50% strength in a year. Either increase the number of drops or replace the bleach occasionally. We keep two gallons of bleach with our emergency supplies. You can purchase an eyedropper in the baby medicine section of a drug store. The Red Cross also recommends using 16 drops of bleach per gallon of water, adding 16 more after 30 minutes if the water does not have slight chlorine or bleach odor. They do not mention boiling the water before adding the bleach. The Red Cross’ suggestion for purifying water with heat is to boil the water for 3-5 minutes and let cool before drinking. The Red Cross website states, “The two methods described above will kill most microbes in water.” I prefer to use both methods when possible, particularly if the water is dirty. If boiling is the only method used, I suggest the old stand by may be the overall safest. Bring the water to a full boil and keep it there for 10 minutes. Add one more minute for every 1,000 feet above sea level. Water used for cooking vegetables can be used for drinking. Tell the kids it is soup. The Red Cross recommends distillation as the best method to purify water suggesting the following technique. “Distillation involves boiling water and then collecting the vapor that condenses back to water. The condensed vapor will not include salt and other impurities. To distill, fill a pot halfway with water. Tie a cup to the handle on the pot's lid so that the cup will hang right-side-up when the lid is upside-down (make sure the cup is not dangling into the water) and boil the water for 20 minutes. The water that drips from the lid into the cup is distilled.” Plan on a minimum of one gallon of drinking water per person per day."